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citanul
02-08-2010, 10:15 AM
I played two tournaments last weekend. The first was on Saturday, being a PTQ Madrid in Brussel. 43 people showed up for this event. Sunday was a regular Legacy tournament where you could win just a planeticket to Madrid. Only 20 people made the trip to Gent.

Let’s start with the first. Saturday comes around and I get ready. We planned on leaving around 10.30 yet the doorbell rings at 10.00 when I’m in the bathroom. JelleF was a bit to early. So I get dressed and eat while he talks with my parents. We pick up Wim first, then pick up Jelle and leave towards Brussel. I resleeve my deck and write a decklist on the way there. We arrive with 50 minutes to spare. Apparently the tournament started at 12.00 while they announced it would start at 11.30. JelleF gets his deck from Jan and quickly makes some adjustments like he wants it to be.

Jelle is playing Supreme Blue, Wim is playing Uwgr CB Control, JelleF is playing Lands and I’ll be playing NLS. My decklist is the following:

3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox
4 Orim’s Chant
2 Silence
4 Brainstorm
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Ponder
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Infernal Tutor
2 Burning Wish
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Doomsday
1 Meditate
1 Tendrils of Agony

1 Deathmark
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Doomsday
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Echoing Truth
1 Tropical Island
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip

We get seated and then paired.

Round1:
Stijn de Clerck from Magic Club Gent. I’ve never seen him play without FoW so I put him on a blue based deck. Later I put him on Landstill but on Sunday I find out that he is playing Bant Survival.

Game1:
I play an Orim’s Chant with one mana open and no land drop made. He first uses Daze which I pay. He thinks and then uses FoW on the Chant. I play a second Chant the turn after. It resolves and I go through Ill-Gotten Gains for the win.

Game2:
He opens with a Gaddock Teeg and I’m set up for a protected Doomsday kill. He uses Vendillion Clique after my draw step, putting away the Doomsday. I use SDT during the end of his next turn at 11 life and see Infernal Tutor + fetchland. I notice that I can draw Infernal Tutor, switch SDT for the land to play around Daze, set up Doomsday with Deathmark and only Deathmark at the very end so he can’t use FoW. I do this but then realize that I just switched my SDT so I have no cantrip. I have to scoop it up. I would’ve won this if I just waited a turn.

Game3:
Carpet of Flowers gives me some mana. The game is over as soon as a protection spell goes through. It also helps if your opponent had to mulligan.

1-0-0 (2-1)

Round2:
I ask my opponent if he speaks Dutch, he doesn’t so we continue the conversation in English. He manages to reveal a Sigil of the Empty Throne so I know he’s playing Enchantress.

Game1:
I open up with Underground Sea, end of turn Brainstorm, upkeep Mystical and win the game through Ill-Gotten Gains. He is very disappointed as soon as I play the Mystical Tutor. It causes him to already feel like he lost the match causing him to play worse than normal.

Game2:
I have a turn2 kill through Ill-Gotten Gains after turn1 Mystical. He didn’t have any form of hate.

2-0-0 (4-1)

Round3:
Paired against Marijn Lybaert. He’s playing Zoo with maindeck Gaddock Teeg.

Game1:
He opens with Nacatl. I fetch, get hit to 16 and cast Mystical so I can go for Infernal into Ad Nauseam. This seems to work out as I had enough mana accelerators, cantrips, LED’s but no Infernal/Burning/Mystical when at 6 life. I keep revealing since I have 8 outs. I hit Doomsday and Lightning Helix finishes me off. I could’ve gone with Mox into brainstorm, fetch, play SDT and try to find something like that. In hindsight, it might’ve been the better play.

Game2:
I open with land and pass the turn. He drops a Nacatl. Brainstorm end of turn gets me the kill: Play second land, Petal, Petal, Petal, Chain of Vapor all 3, Petal, Petal, Petal, Dark Ritual, Infernal for Tendrils.

Game3:
We both mulligan to 6. He opens with nothing. I drop land, SDT. Gaddock Teeg comes down, no stress. I cast Brainstorm, fetch and use SDT again seeing nothing relevant. Marijn drops a Pridemage and hits me for 3. I fetch, see another time but don’t see a kill. Canonist comes down next turn and it just spells game over. I get another turn, see nothing and scoop them up.

2-1-0 (5-3)

Round4:
I’m never able to put this player on a deck. He played Aluren before Pridemage and it seems that now he’s playing The Mighty Quinn.

Game1:
The game goes slow as he managed to resolve an early Runed Halo on Tendrils of Agony. At a certain point and several Chants later he does the following during his mainphase. Cast Enlightened Tutor for Isochron Scepter with 4 mana open and SDT in play. It all becomes clear now, he will switch, cast it and use it on my upkeep creating me a window to resolve a chant in response to his, go off during my turn with Ad Nauseam for 20+ Goblin tokens, cast Chant again and attack for the win. So he does that and passes the turn, pausing me on my upkeep. I Chant in response and a judge needs to be called to explain the interaction between this and his Scepter trigger. I cast Ad Nauseam at plenty of life and find a Lotus Petal for my second red, double Mystical and enough spells to get lethal amount of Goblins. So I do that, create 24 Goblin Tokens and pass the turn, he draws his SDT, uses it, passes back. I cast Mystical, Scepter in response, Mystical in response, switch my SDT and Chant. Second mystical finds another Chant just in case, draw it and attack for lethal.

Game2:
He sides in Ethersworn Canonists. I get rid of the first by using Deathmark, the second keeps coming in but I have to find bounce. When I do, he has triple Chant effects in hand. There is no way I’m getting out of this game alive.

Game3:
I mulligan to 6. Another Canonist meets his fate by the mark of Death. Painter comes down several turns later followed by Grindstone and an activation. I cast Dark Ritual in response as I am low on mana, fetch and activate SDT with Dark Ritual mana. I need to find one of the 2 Echoing Truth or a Chain of Vapor and I needed Ritual mana to be able to use SDT and cast Echoing Truth. I find a Chain of Vapor, switch and cast it. Then Grindstone resolves and gets rid of my SDT. Damn, what an error! I should’ve checked top3, switched in response and put SDT third down. Anyway, I draw me card for the turn, can’t go off and die next turn.

2-2-0 (6-5)

I drop from the tournament and playtest a bit with Jan. Need to test sideboard strategies against CB based decks!

JelleF makes it to the top8 but loses in the Quarterfinals against Tempotresh. Apparently game1 was triple Waste + Stifle. Game2 was beatdown with Goyf, almost stabilised but last two cards turned out to be FoW + Blue card.

So we head home disappointed. I cook myself some food, go upstairs to grab some cards and hear the doorbell. Jelle is standing there, wanting to go away to play some more. Addicts!

Sunday, another day, another tournament. JelleF decided not to join us, Wim send me a text message that he wasn’t feeling to well and stayed home. So it was just me and Jelle. I was playing the same deck, Jelle was doubting between TopRock and Ichorid. I tell him to throw a coin. He hands me one, I throw it and it ends on Ichorid. He decides to play TopRock anyway.

So we are seated once more, decklists are being handed in and pairings are posted.

Round1:
I’m paired against Tom playing The Mighty Quinn. You got to know, there’s only 2 people playing this deck around here. I shuffle my cards, Pile shuffle as always and notice I’m running 57 cards. I call a judge and I get the time to find me those cards. Turns out I’m missing a Doomsday, Underground Sea and a Dark Ritual. I had several decks with me the night before for playtesting and threw them out of my box during the morning. Those cards where at home, 40 minutes away. Opponent had a Doomsday, neighbour had a Dark Ritual and an Underground Sea. I had spare sleeves with me anyway. Judge gives us 6 minutes extra.

Game1:
Runed Halo comes down on Tendrils of Agony. Am I glad that I play Burning Wish. Opponent also drops a Grindstone so it’ll be a bit harder. Ad Nauseam resolves at the end of his turn. I untap, drop a bunch of artifacts, cast Chant which resolves, use Mystical for Silence, cast Burning Wish for Empty cracking one of my 2 LED’s for RRR and cast Empty the Warrens. I crack LED for WWW and want to switch SDT, he uses Grindstone. I check top3, place Silence 3rd. I also had a second SDT to switch in case the other 2 where of the same colour. So Silence resolves and he gets eaten by Goblin tokens.

Game2:
I can get rid of the first Canonist. The turn after he goes all in by tapping out for Painter + Grindstone. I don’t have the kill and die the turn after. For once, a quick match against Quinn.

Game3:
This is a long and drawn out game. He casts 3 Ethersworn Canonist, 1 dies to Deathmark, the other 2 keep smashing face. I bounce them EOT but he has a chant. He doesn’t recast them but goes for the kill with Painter Grindstone. I bounce Painter in response to activation, draw my card and go off unprotected against an untapped Plains. He switches SDT in response to my last card and lets it resolve. Tendrils wins the game. Turns out it was a Plains and he should know that from his SDT. So he could’ve just switched SDT, played Plains and replayed an Ethersworn Canonist causing me to lose.

1-0-0 (2-1)

Round2:
Against Bart. Last time he played Fish but I already know that he opted on playing Merfolk this time.

Game1:
I keep a hand with double Chant, 2 land, Ritual, LED, Infernal, Brainstorm.
Vial from his end keeps bringing Cursecatchers. Chant 1 gets a Cursecatcher and then resolves, very wisely from him as I needed Petal, double ritual and tutor to win from that point. Chant2 gets Spell Pierced after the activation of another Cursecatcher. Chant3 gets a FoW, pitching Sovereign and I go off. He has another Cursecatcher but I played around that. Ad Nauseam wins me the game.

Game2:
I side out Red for Green and side in some bounce. Turns out he didn’t have anything to bring in but graveyard hate over Echoing Truth. Carpets give me mana and makes him not drop his own lands. I mystical end of turn when he has 5 cards in hand to a second Chant, thinking he’d counter the first. He just let it resolve and I have to pass the turn with no discard outlet so my Infernal Tutor is death. I draw Carpet, use one for a green after Chant resolves. Cast the other, go to mainphase2, get 2 mana but can’t get there. If I would’ve risked it, getting a Dark Ritual with Mystical I would’ve won. Hindsight 20/20 is what they say.

Game3:
I mulligan to 5 and he has a very aggressive hand. Turn1 Vial. Adept, vial in Catcher, Vial in Lord, drop Lord. I had no chance of winning this on 5 cards.

1-1-0 (3-3)

Round3:
I saw this person yesterday and he was playing Rock. We chat a bit during shuffling where he mentions that he isn’t playing Deed. Jelle has dropped before this round to play in the launch party.

Game1:
He opens with Ritual, Thoughtseize and takes Mystical from a hand of 2 land, Mystical, Mystical, Brainstorm, Ponder, Dark Ritual. Duress takes the other Mystical. Brainstorm, fetch, Ponder and I go off on turn3 with Ritual, Ritual, Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor into Ill-Gotten Gains.

Game2:
Chalice on 0 while I had LED and double Petal in hand. I drop an SDT. He drops land and a Chalice on 1. I top during upkeep and see Chain of Vapor. Fetchland reshuffles but sees no bounce. He drops Dark Confidant and passes. I draw and pass. He reveals Tombstalker. I use SDT, no Echoing to be sighted. He reveals Extirpate and discards it at the end of his turn. SDT finds no Echoing Truth. He reveals another Tombstalker! He only has 3 life now. I top, see nothing. He reveals… A Vindicate. He died to his own Dark Confidant.

2-1-0 (5-3)

Round4:
Against the other Quinn player. The same as Saturday.

Game1:
No Runed Halo this time. Some Chants get thrown around, mine resolves at a certain point and it’s all over one Ill-Gotten Gains loop later.

Game2:
Canonist meets Deathmark, Canonist meets Krosan grip, Canonist smashes face alongside a Runed Halo. I bounce it at the last possible moment. I have Burning Wish in hand with enough mana to go Infernal Tutor into Ill-Gotten Gains to get bounce, Ritual and Infernal into Tendrils. But I still haven’t chanted so I need to find one. SDT reveals nothing so I calculate that I can still go Infernal to Infernal and try one more time. I don’t find a chant effect and go Infernal to Burning Wish to Empty the Warrens. He has the Wrath of God.

Game3:
He mulligans to 6. Enlightened finds Canonist but Deathmark kills it. Second Enlightened finds another Canonist but SDT finds me a Krosan Grip. At least his brother died in a split second. I chant during my own upkeep, it resolves. I then play Mystical, draw it and notice the Tormod’s Crypt, I can’t go off through IGG-loop and need one more mana for Meditate pile so I have to pass the turn. He finds nothing. I Chant, Ritual, Doomsday, Meditate, Petal, SDT, LED, LED, Burning Wish, Tendrils for the win.

3-1-0 (7-4)

Round5:
ID

Quarterfinals:
Against Landstill.

Game1:
Chant1 gets countered. Chant 2 resolves the turn after and I win through Ill-Gotten Gains. I did what I had to do, win game1.

Game2:
I keep a hand with 1 land and use it to fetch to an Island. Ponder finds me a fetchland while the opponent has fetch, Waste. He untaps, drops land and Vindicates my island. I top with it, fetch and top again. Fetch during my turn now that he’s untapped. Drop Petal, Ritual, play Infernal Tutor for another LED to make the following play: LED, LED, LED, cast Infernal Tutor using double LED. If he counters I can use mana to check top cards and hope something is there. He didn’t have a counter and scoops them up.

(9-4)

Semifinals:
Against Merfolk from round2. He won in the quarterfinals against a teammate who was playing Landstill.

Game1:
I lose the die roll. He opens with Vial but forgets to put a counter on it. Standstill comes down afterwards. I keep drawing cards, trying to sculpt a good hand. I wait until the last possible turn, Chant which gets countered, Petal to play around Daze and Spell Pierce. Ritual, Doomsday into Meditate, LED, LED, Petal, Tendrils. I would’ve lost if he upped his Vial.

Game2:
Petal into Carpet of Flowers turn1 gives me an extra mana during mainphase2 which I use for Ponder. I keep getting attacked by an Adept and a Mutavault. I wait a bit and decide to pass one last turn to play around FoW. He draws an Island so he has Spell Pierce up now where before he had to tap his Island for Mutavault. Spell Pierce stops the Chant, FoW stops the combo.

Game3:
I open with land pass. He has Vial. I drop land, Brainstorm, fetch and pass. He increases the Vial to 1 and plays Adept, revealing another. I can play Chant and go through Ill-Gotten Gains if it resolves or Ad Nauseam if it gets countered. The problem is the Vial at 1. It can bring in Cursecatcher and ruin my day. Chant resolves and I go for the IGG-loop. He taps his vial when I cast Ill-Gotten Gains but drops nothing. I win.

Finals:
We decide to split the prize. He was playing CB Bant.

Pro’s:
- Winning against a lot of blue decks.
- Getting extra cash on top of the Bye’s and trip that I already had.
- Jelle and JelleF for driving to both locations.
- Getting back lost rating after previous bad result of 1-4.
- Winning through Runed Halo maindeck twice. Once with Scepter Chant.
- Jan for playtesting afterwards.
- Tom and Mark for loaning me the cards I forgot.

Cons:
- Having to play The Mighty Quinn 3 times.
- Forgetting 3 cards.
- No trip for teammates.
- Play errors, as usual.